Anarchists
to be targeted as "terrorists" alongside Al Qaeda (pdf file)
Europol has produced a Situation and Trends report on terrorist
activity in the European Union. As might be expected the report
covers ETA in Spain, the Real IRA in Northern Ireland, the National
Front for the Liberation of Corsica and "Islamic extremist
terrorism" (including Al Qaeda). The report stresses that
although the number of incidents was "showing a small decrease"
the "importance of the attacks increased dramatically"
- this was because after 11 September the "European Union
is not only a target for terrorist attacks but also an important
area for preparatory and logistic purposes in the widest sense".
It further notes that progress is taking place in Northern Ireland,
and that ceasefires, both in Northern Ireland and Corsica have
"been maintained by the main players".
One new category added in 2001 was "eco-terrorism"
on which the report gives no examples. The report simply says
in total that: "Radical environmentalists and animal rights
movements have maintained a limited campaign. Nevertheless, the
material damage they caused was extensive". No definition
of "eco-terrorism" is given nor is one planned in the
proposed extension of Europol's role (see Statewatch's
The activities and development of Europol
pamphlet). It is
thus hard to see the distinction between activity which might
be termed a criminal offence as distinct from a "terrorist"
offence.

Another new category which is even more problematic is that of
"anarchist terrorism". In February 2001 a Europol seminar
on counter-terrorism held in Madrid agreed on a proposal by Spain,
Portugal, Greece and Italy to set up a joint investigation team
on "anarchist terrorism". It appears that after Genoa
in July 2001 Europol may have set up an "analysis file"
on "anarchist terrorism" which in turn fed through
into this Situation report. Interviewed by a German newspaper
in August Jurgen Storbeck, Europol's Director, said the so-called
"Black Block" of anarchists could be seen as "terrorist
or pre-terrorist".

The following analysis looks at the many questions that arise
from the inclusion of "anarchist terrorism" which relies
almost totally on examples from Italy and at the attempt to extend
terrorism in Spain to legitimate political groups.

Analysis

The report says
that "anarchist terrorism" could be a symptom of the
possible "resurrection of left wing terrorism" and
refers to a series of terrorist attacks "in the southern
part of the Union". In fact all the incidents referred to
are in Italy, and the report claims that these examples could
spark the return of EU-wide "left wing and anarchist terrorism".

This is claimed, by some tortuous logic, to be an EU-wide problem
as:

"left
wing and anarchist websites in northern European countries cover
this [Italian] situation in depth, the possibility of the resurrection
of the left wing and anarchist terrorist groups is existent,
in which the southern terrorist activity might function as an
example"

The report is
drawn up by Europol which appears to have rubber-stamped "intelligence"
passed to it by member states seeking support for their internal
agendas, on the basis of on-going judicial proceedings.

Italy has been investigating numerous anarchists accused of "subversive
association" following the G8 summit in Genoa while Spain
has been criminalising a number of Basque nationalist groups
and left-wing activists by claiming that they are "part
of ETA". This led to the inclusion of several Basque groups
in the EU list of proscribed organisations and now this situation
report.

Italy

Anarchists in
Italy have been blamed for a spate of minor bomb attacks over
the last few years, with links to groups in Spain, Portugal and
Greece alleged by the Italian Interior Ministry. In particular,
investigating magistrates have been linking investigations into
actions attributed to anarchists to the struggle against the
dispersal, isolation and hard prison regime for political prisoners
(FIES) in Spain.

After the G8
summit in Genoa, anarchists were blamed by Italian authorities
for violent clashes between police and protestors, and a backlash
followed against the anarchist movement which led to nation-wide
raids involving detentions, searches and a number of persons
being placed under investigation.

The threat assessment
report expresses concern over the "first signs of the possible
resurrection of left wing terrorism", due to episodes of
anarchist terrorism "in the second half of 2001". These
are attributed to "International Solidarity" (Solidarieta
Internazionale), an umbrella name for an organisation carrying
out attacks in southern Europe, with examples listed from Italy.
The examples provided are inaccurate in a number of respects
and the problem has probably been highlighted beyond its actual
significance.

Firstly, the
document mistakenly states that the sixty alleged Solidarieta
Internazionale members detained in September were "allegedly
preparing terrorist attacks against Milan's cathedral and other
objectives in the same city". The attacks referred to actually
ocurred on 26 October 1999 (a carabinieri station), 28 June 2000
(Sant'Ambrogio church) and 18 December 2000 (the Duomo, Milan's
cathedral), and were claimed by the group. Sixty people were
detained on 18 September for allegedly being members of Solidarieta
Internazionale, believed to be involved in attempted bombings
in Milan (none of the bombs exploded) (see Statewatch vol 11
no 5). They have been released and are currently under investigation.

Secondly, investigations
into another device that exploded in July 2001 outside the Palazzo
di giustizia in Venice after the G8 summit, also included under
the heading "anarchist terrorism", are still ongoing.
Although anarchists or left-wingers were originally blamed, investigating
magistrate Felice Casson ordered the arrest of a 26-year-old
right-winger, Cristiano Rifani, in January 2001 and a second
suspect is also a right- winger. A number of the cases included
in the report are still unresolved, including an explosion in
Rome on 11 May 2000 that targeted the Institute for International
Affairs and the Council for US-Italian relations. It was claimed
by the Nuclei di Iniziativa Proletaria in a 36-page e-mail document.
Raul Terilli, Fabrizio Sante Antonini and Roberta Ripaldi, three
activists, are under arrest in connection with this and other
minor bombing incidents. In a letter from prison to anarchist
magazine Croce Nera Anarchica, Fabrizio Sante Antonini claimed
that " on the night between July 15 and 16 2001"
numerous searches were carried out in which "nothing was
found". He adds that "after over two years of interceptions,
surveillance the normal personal relationships of a person
written into police records adquire suspicious and perverse traits,
the source for who knows what criminal conspiracy". He called
on all activists and organisation to become active to "deconstruct
this sandcastle based on falsehood and lies, with the aim of
shutting up any voice expressing dissent or struggle".

A device that exploded outside the Northern League's headquarters
in Vigonza (Padua) on 24 August 2001 is also included in the
list of anarchist terrorist attacks although investigators said
in August that it was just as likely that it was planted by ordinary
organised crime.

There is an extensive
history in Italy of anarchists or "left-wingers" appearing
as suspects in the early stages of investigations, being arrested
and later being shown to be innocent. In 2000 and 2001 two trials
concerning explosions during the so-called "years of lead"
originally blamed on anarchists resulted in convictions for right-wingers
acting with state collusion (see Statewatch bulletin vol 10 no
2 & vol 11 no 3/4). Three members of Ordine Nuovo, a neo-fascist
group with alleged links to Italian and US secret services, received
life sentences on 30 June 2001 for planting a bomb in Milan's
Banca dell'agricoltura in 1969, killing sixteen people. Two anarchists,
Giuseppe Pinelli and Pietro Valpreda, were the original suspects.
Pinelli died after falling out of a window when he was being
questioned in custody, and Valpreda spent three years in prison.
Gianfranco Bertoli was found guilty on 11 March 2000 for a 1973
bombing outside Milan's police station in which four people were
killed - despite his claims that he was an anarchist, he was
found to have been employed by the Italian secret service, SIFAR,
and to have links with far-right groups, particularly Ordine
Nuovo.

Massimo Cacciari, the former centre-left mayor of Venice, has
criticised attempts by centre-right politicians to assume that
bombings are left-wing before investigations are carried out.
Alluding to the "years of lead", he claimed that "only
in Italy, we pretend that the world hasn't changed", adding
that "in the seventies, there was the actual threat of a
civil war, there were coups d 'etat . .. there was a risk for
democracy", which is no longer the case.

Luca Giannasi,
an informer for the Italian military secret service (SISMI) received
an eight-month prison sentence on 14 February 2001 for possession
of explosives and was acquitted on the more serious charges of
organising and carrying out two bombings in Milan. Based on a
statement given to the police by Giuseppe Fregosi, an associate
who was arrested for arms trafficking, Giannasi was arrested
in connection with a bomb that exploded on 22 September 1998
in front of a Guardia di Finanza office and an unexploded device
planted in the Bocconi University on 21 April 1999. Fregosi claimed
that he provided Giannasi with explosive that the latter said
would be used for making explosive devices. This evidence was
not allowed in court because Fregosi refused to repeat his allegations
in the trial. Giannasi allegedly told SISMI that attacks by anarchists
were imminent between June and September 1998 and blamed the
attack on the Guardia di Finanza office on Milan anarchists.
A leaflet from a quite unknown group, the Nuclei di Guerriglia
Antirazzista (Anti-Racist Guerrilla Units) was conveniently found
with the device in a university classroom.

The inclusion of "anarchist terrorism", solely on the
basis of evidence from Italy, begs the question about the proven
role of right-wingers who have caused explosions in Italy. In
one case a known right-winger was caught red-handed when he injured
himself in an attempt to bomb the Rome headquarters of communist
daily newspaper II manifesto on 22 December 2000. Andrea Insabato,
a right-winger with links to Forza Nuova leader Roberto Fiore,
was arrested after the attack against Il manifesto and received
a 12-year prison sentence in February 2001. In recent years a
museum on the Resistance movement (against nazism and fascism)
and a cinema where a film on nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann
was being screened were also attacked with explosive devices.

Spain

The Spanish authorities
have been conducting an ongoing campaign to criminalise Basque
political organisations advocating autonomy, including youth
organisations and prisoner support groups, by claiming that they
are part of ETA. The inclusion of such groups - which were controversially
outlawed in Spain in 2001 - listed in the document as "an
ETA support organisation" (Ekin), organisations "closely
affiliated with ETA" (Ekin, Haika and prison support group
Gestoras pro-amnistia) and "bureau for international relations
for ETA" (Xaki) supports this approach. These groups were
also included in the EU list of terrorist organisations attached
to the "Common position on the application of specific measures
to combat terrorism" on the basis of information indicating
that a decision by a competent authority regarding these groups
in relation to terrorist offences has been taken "irrespective
of whether it concerns the instigation of investigations or prosecution".
Thus, the principle of "innocent until proven guilty"
is dispensed with, and the fact that numerous arrests in connection
with terrorist activities have been overturned on appeal is ignored.
Catalan left wing groups have also alleged that arrests have
taken place to link grassroots movements to ETA, including a
raid in the Netherlands (see Statewatch news online, February)
organised by European prosecutions unit pro-Eurojust to arrest
Juan Ramirez Rodriguez, a singer in a Catalan political rock
band.

In 2000 the Spanish government hardened its anti-terrorist legislation
by extending the definition of apologia de terrorismo (defending
terrorism) from incitement to commit offences to applauding a
crime or praising its author. This was part of a raft of measures
that also included treating minors as adults if they are involved
in terrorist activity, and the conversion of kale borroka (street
struggle/violence) into a terrorist offence. These measures were
aimed at the wider Basque nationalist movement, at a time when
any criticism of the government's anti-terrorist policy, or any
claim for increased Basque sovereignty (even if it is conducted
through the democratic system), is interpreted by the government
as connivance with ETA - this happens regularly to the mainstream
PNV (Basque Nationalist Party).

The Spanish government also wanted to have political party, Batasuna,
listed as a terrorist organisation on the EU list - this failed
when other EU member states pointed out that it would be a contradiction,
as Batasuna is a political party with representatives in Spanish
institutions. The ruling PP (Partido Popular) and opposition
PSOE (Socialist Workers Party) are planning to resolve this issue,
in the framework of an "Anti-terrorist pact" between
the two parties, by making parties that "shelter or justify
terrorism, xenophobia and racism" illegal, according to
justice minister Angel Acebes. The criminalisation of Batasuna
would make it difficult for a peace process such as those developing
in Corsica and Northern Ireland, whose progress is welcomed in
the document, to occur.

With the conversion of public order offences/violence into terrorist
crimes if they have a political scope, any violent act motivated
by claims for Basque independence may see its perpetrator linked
to ETA, regardless of whether a link exists. The crucial issue
is the support for a "terrorist goal". If a group opposes
Spanish anti-terrorist policy (on human rights or other grounds),
they be viewed as entities abusing their legal status to support
"terrorists". If this criterion were adopted at a European
level, the identification of a left-wing terrorist threat could
lead to the description as "terrorist" (by association)
of all activists in the EU.

Conclusion

As to the inclusion
of "eco-terrorism", no incidents are mentioned other
than a "limited campaign" which has caused "extensive"
material damage. The case for placing "eco-terrorism"
in a terrorist threat assessment document alongside Al Qaida
appears highly questionable, and the absence of detail may be
linked to possible support by EU citizens for actions carried
out by some environmentalists which it would be convenient to
construe as terrorism.

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, commented:

"The
exclusion of right-wing bombing attacks in Italy - let alone
violent and murderous attacks on migrants in several EU countries
by racists - suggests that the inclusion of "anarchist terrorism"
and "eco-terrorism" in this EU Situation report is
aimed at criminalising the radical left and expanding the concept
of terrorism"

Situation in the terrorist activity in the
European Union: Situation report and trends - September 2000
to September 2001, full-text: 5759/02
(pdf) 5759/1/02 REV 1 (pdf)